Professor Potter

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

It was late on Sunday afternoon and the house was finally settling back to normal since Harry had arrived home from the fight at Shell Cottage slightly after midnight. As might be expected, there was a lot of hugs and kisses as he got through the front door. Then came questions, some answers and more questions. The children were put back to bed shortly after Harry got home and it was decided that Bill and Fleur would stay until morning so Ron and his squad mates would have time to clean things up. Harry didn't even bother going to bed. Once he saw Ginny and James were settled in their beds he went back into the living room and sat in a chair that allowed him to look out through the large windows into the night sky beyond. He had been sitting there for perhaps a quarter hour when he said without looking,

"Hello, Fleur. I thought you would have gone to bed by now."

"I should but sometheeng told me you would be down 'ere somewhere. I saw that the library was empty," she said quietly as she came in to sit down in a chair opposite Harry.

She was still dressed in the same robe she wore when she left the cottage for the haven of Meadow Crest. It was obvious she had found the time to pull herself together. Her disheveled hair was pulled back and she looked more awake.

"'ow are you feeleeng, mon ami?"

Harry looked at her and smiled a bit and said,

"Annoyed, I guess you could say. At least now that it's over and you are all safe."

"Just annoyed, 'arry?" she asked, sounding a bit skeptical.

"Yes, I left angry back on the cliffs in front of your house. We'll need to visit more often when the weather improves. I imagine it's really nice there in the summer."

"Oui, mon frere, you are always welcome, of course."

"Back to your question though, yes, annoyed. We just spent a month working with some very dedicated people who are going to start a new school rather than let their children be victims of someone's twisted vision. Bill and I work every day of a school year to teach our own kids how to avoid going in that direction. And what happens? I have to break the heads of a bunch of drunken idiots bent on revenge for us humiliating them in that Quidditch match."

"Do you theenk you should 'ave 'andled eet deefrently back then, 'arry?" she asked.

"Maybe, but I don't see how. I just don't think they would have been willing to reason it out."

Fleur looked at him, her face and eyes very serious. Then she said,

"You know, 'arry, I theenk you 'ave 'ad to deal weeth a serious 'andicap."

"Really, how so?" he asked.

"You 'ave 'ad to deal weeth such large problems, for so long that you forget that most problems are rather small and ordinaire. You 'ad the loss of your parents, finding out you were a weezard and then all the troubles weeth Voldemort. Add to that your work at the Meenistry and now Durmstrang and all that that entails. So when you see sometheeng so ordinary as those 'ooligans, as you call them, you don't realize 'ow they might react to what 'appened to them and 'ow they might act in return," she said.

"Are you saying I've lost touch with ordinary witches and wizards? That I'm not one of them anymore?" he asked, sounding a bit anxious.

"Mon ami, you never were one of them. No matter 'ow 'umble your life was een the begeeneeng, there was never anything ordinary about you. Not your ancestry, your abeelities, or your character. Oh, do not look at me that way, 'arry. What ees eenportant ees that you never lost your concern for the ordinary weetch and weezard. The whole idea of the patrollers and 'ow you ran your department was all about the weetch and weezard een the street you said. The amount of time you spend weeth your students ees the same theeng. Your eenstincts push you to do theese theengs. But I theenk with all you must deal weeth you are going to 'ave to work very 'ard not to lose sight of what ees really eemportant to us, to you."